This invention is in the field of optical detector or sensor (including eyes) protection. It is well known that optical sensors can be damaged by exposure to intense laser radiation of both pulsed and cw varieties. Protectors or optical limiters may be of two general types, active or passive. Active optical limiters require a predetermination of the presence of threat radiation and then must provide an external stimulus (such as an applied electric field) to operate the limiter. Active devices are usually complex (tunable filters, for example) and are unable to rapidly respond to short pulses or bursts of harmful radiation. Passive protectors are preferred since the threat radiation itself triggers the desired protective response. An ideal protector must fulfill various requirements: it must not degrade or attenuate desired radiation (low insertion loss), it must provide complete blocking of radiation above some pre-determined threshold (i.e., a level considered harmful to the sensor or eyes), it must be sensitive over a sufficiently wide wavelength range to block all undesired radiation, it must have a wide field-of-view, it must be fast acting (for pulsed lasers), it must be capable of simultaneously blocking a multiplicity of intense laser wavelengths emanating from a single source, and it must be capable of responding to pulsed and cw lasers. Of late, there has been considerable interest in protecting sensors and eyes from high-power multi-line pulsed laser systems which are currently under development. The basic design of such lasers include a neodymium-doped laser host material such as glass or yittrium aluminum garnet (YAG). The fundamental output wavelength of such lasers is at 1.05 to 1.06 micrometers depending on the particular laser host material. This fundamental wavelength is frequency doubled (wavelength is halved) to approximately 0.53 micrometers. The beam at this wavelength can be used to pump a Raman cell which in turn emits several additional laser frequencies. These laser system (known as "rainbow" or "white light" lasers) are designed to deliver all of these laser lines simultaneously. That is, four or five laser lines at different wavelengths (each separated by several hundred angstroms in the visible spectrum) will simultaneously arrive at a targeted sensor. A representative group of wavelengths will include the fundamental at 1.06 micrometers, the doubled frequency at 0.53 micrometers and perhaps two or three Raman lines at 0.49 micrometers (anti-Stokes), and at 0.57 and 0.6l micrometers (Stokes). Here the wavelengths given for the Raman lines are only to illustrate their approximate spectral positions relative to the doubled frequency at 0.53 micrometers. The actual values of the Raman lines will depend on the Raman material selected for use in the laser system. In addition, the multiplicity of laser wavelengths (each with a substantial intensity) are capable of being delivered to the system in short pulsed (10 nanoseconds) at a repetition rate of 10 Hz or at a number of random delivery rates. Other serious threats in the visible spectral range are the argon-ion and krypton-ion lasers. They are continuous wave sources that emit at seven or eight frequencies simultaneously. When used in this fashion they can be regarded as cw "rainbow" or "white" lasers. A typical argon-ion laser can provide eight laser lines in the blue-green region of the visible spectrum with wavelengths between 0.457 micrometers and 0.514 micrometers. A krypton-ion laser can provide ten laser lines in the visible spectrum between 0.457 micrometers and 0.687 micrometers. Both pulsed and cw threats pose a serious problem for existing sensor protection technology. Fixed line filters are not viable solutions since the exact wavelengths of the Raman shifted 0.53 micrometers pump laser are uncertain and could even be changed during operation of the laser. Another drawback of fixed line filters designed to work simultaneously for so many laser lines is the large insertion loss. This particular problem applies even to state-of-the-art "rugate filters". That is, if more than three rejection wavelengths are designed into the filter the overall transmission of the filter is seriously degraded resulting in impairment of the sensor mission. Tunable filters are not capable of countering such a threat for two reasons; they cannot respond to nanosecond pulses and they cannot filter a multiplicity of laser lines simultaneously. The present invention overcomes these problems and provides passive broadband sensor protection against high intensity, short-pulse, high repetition rate multi-line lasers and multi-line cw-lasers. The teachings of the invention can be used to passively protect night-vision devices, sensitive photodetectors and eyes.